OSHA official to clear confusion over stiffer penalties

On-the-fly changes can create chaos, but chances are nobody will mind the one Scott Cole recently made.

Cole, director of the Lake County Safety Council, initially wanted the group's upcoming meeting to focus on the prioritization of safety programs at businesses. Plans changed after he heard from several business owners who had been fined stiffly for the inability to meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.

Enacted earlier this year, the Severe Violator Enforcement Program and modernization of OSHA's injury and illness recordkeeping aren't new developments. However, their price tags are beginning to weigh down CEO bank accounts.

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"A penalty could be upwards of $70,000 per violation," Cole said of the newer penalties companies can face for willful or repeated hazards at their facilities. "Local companies have seen this happen already.

"(Small companies) could have a couple hundred grand wrapped up in this, and it could put them out of business."

In an effort to prevent that from happening, Cole will honor Safety Council members' requests by hosting an OSHA official one week from today at the organization's next meeting. Eric Peterson, a compliance assistance specialist with OSHA's Cleveland office and the U.S. Department of Labor, will address the crowd of Safety Council members and nonmembers and inform them of actions, environments and mishaps that could land them on the "severe violator" list.

Peterson was not available for comment.

"This is a great opportunity for people to hear the recent OSHA updates from OSHA first-hand," Cole said. "The Severe Violators program could impact employers drastically."

Knowing this, the Safety Council is extending the meeting to those who aren't members of the Council, as well as to workers and business owners, as opposed to just safety and human resource personnel.

Cole said OSHA's injury and illness recordkeeping updates will be the first since the '70s, while the penalty structure changes are aimed at keeping up workplace safety by hitting business owners where it hurts most. In past years, minor fines were about $7,000 and could be argued down to $1,200 or $1,500. With the new directives in place, that no longer appears to be the case.

The SVEP replaces the former Enhanced Enforcement Program by targeting high-emphasis hazards identified from selected National Emphasis programs. Those hazards are broken down into a few categories, each of which includes an array of violations ranging from not guarding floor and wall openings and holes to respiratory protection from gases, vapors, fumes, dusts and mists.

While the fines are larger, business owners are under more scrutiny after the Department of Labor added more inspectors, Cole said. Visits will increase once a company has been labeled a Severe Violator, and the process to prove otherwise is a lot more cumbersome than before, according to both Cole and SVEP instruction documents available online through OSHA.

"Good luck trying to argue those things," Cole said. "They're really trying to make you react by hitting you in the pocketbook."